You can now download the study «Gender and data. Promotion of the Gender perspective in Open Government.
Estudio género y datos (PINCHA AQUÍ PARA DESCARGAR) (408 downloads )
The study was presented during the Conference “Gender and Open Government”, framed within the Foundation for Justice project «Gender and Data. Promotion of the gender perspective in open government» carried out with the support of the Valencia City Council. The Conference was held in collaboration with the Pagoda Chair and took place on June 3 at the Department of Constitutional Law, Political Science and Administration of the University of Valencia. The objective of this meeting was to reflect together and share the results of the study on open data from a gender perspective made by the teacher Carmen Montalbá Ocaña y the journalist Ana Maria Ioanas.
The opening ceremony was attended, among others, by Joaquín Martín Cubas, director of the Pagoda Chair, Ana María Fuertes Eugenio, director of the Foundation for Justice and Fabiola Meco Tébar, vice dean of the UV Faculty of Law. The interventions highlighted the importance of acquiring a gender perspective in the analysis of data from public administrations in order to implement effective egalitarian public policies.
The first table, of an institutional nature, titled “Present and future of the Open Data Policy”, was moderated by Raquel Valle Escolano, Director of the Master of Management in Public Management at UNIR and had the participation of Andres Gomis, General Director of Transparency, Attention to Citizens and Good Governance of the GVA, Fernando Gallego García, Head of Transparency and Open Government Service of Valencia City Council and Silvia Rueda Pascual, Territorial Director of the GVA Innovation Department.
opened the table Andrés Gomis, who highlighted the double strategy followed by the GVA with a view to establishing a public administration data management system. At an internal level, he highlighted the need to introduce a “data culture” in public administrations in accordance with the Law 2/2015 on Transparency, Good Government and Citizen Participation of the Valencian Community, in order to improve its efficiency through the evaluation and reuse of data available to public powers, facilitating decision-making, accountability and transparency. On the other hand, he pointed out that since 2020 the GVA has launched a portal aimed at data reusers in order to promote informative activities on open government and concluded that the gender disaggregation of data is a vital issue for the development of public policies.
Next, Fernando Gallego, representing the Valencia City Council, began his presentation by introducing the governance model adopted by the Valencia city council called “Missions València 2030”, in close relationship with the Sustainable Development Goals, placing emphasis on objective number 5 on Gender equality. Among other issues, the speaker highlighted the need to create a “city data scientist” role as well as a public data infrastructure that brings the city closer to the Smarty City concept.
Silvia Rueda Pascual He began his intervention by evidencing the disparity in access and use of technology according to income, age or level of education. Focusing more on the gender perspective, she highlighted how the incorrect use of data as well as the algorithms of digital platforms tend to harm women by having a sexist and patriarchal bias. Among other data, it also highlighted the low presence of women in the ICT sector and the lack of female references in the world of technology, which makes it difficult to demasculinize the sector.
The second table, moderated by Emilio Soria Olivas, professor at the University of Valencia, had a technical-academic nature, revolving especially around the report prepared by Carmen Montalbá Ocaña, hired professor Doctor in the Department of Social Work and Social Services of the UV, and Ana María Ioanas, data journalist. In addition to the two authors of the report, this panel included the participation of experts such as Antonia Ferrer Sapena, Full Professor, Director of the Chair of Transparency and Data Management at the UPV, and Anabel Forte Deltell, Full Professor of the Department of Statistics and Operational Research, Acting Director of the Digital Gender Gap Chair at the UV.
This table began with the presentation by Carmen Montalba from the preliminary study “Gender and Data. Promotion of the gender perspective in open government.” Firstly, the paradigm shift that data and information have undergone was highlighted, as there has been awareness of their social value and how they can contribute to democratizing society through the consecration of the right to know. The academic highlighted that data does not exist if it is not contextualized, therefore it is extremely important to take into account what part of reality the data we are observing illuminates. Subsequently, the speaker addressed the issue of the gender perspective in the issue of data, which goes beyond the mere publication of figures and percentages on the situation of women. The gender perspective in the processing of data requires contextualizing the data, which is carried out by identifying the existing mechanisms of inequality as well as placing the data in a geographical and temporal space. In short, it is vitally important to educate the population in reading and understanding data to avoid falling into what Montalbá calls “social anesthesia.”
Ana Maria Ioanas He continued with the presentation of the study, highlighting the need to bring the population closer to the data. The speaker used research reports made from public data on sexist violence to illustrate the importance of correct reuse and dissemination of data, exemplifying with various projects the importance of contextualizing the data so that it acquires value. social and transformative power. The journalist also highlighted the need to educate the population in the use and analysis of data.
Subsequently, Antonia Ferrer He made a general tour of all the training projects and dissemination sessions on the use of open data, as well as the surveys and interviews necessary to know the general knowledge of the population in this area. The speaker highlighted the importance of being aware of who provides the data and the need to introduce the gender perspective, disaggregating data by gender, especially in terms of employment.
To end the day, we have the intervention of Anabel Forte Deltell, which highlighted the need to have open data that is truly transparent and understandable, so the format in which it is presented will influence its understanding. The speaker stressed the lack of statistical and mathematical culture in the population, which makes it difficult to access and process information, and consequently can lead to the perpetuation of certain gender roles in society.
The event was closed by the Delegate Councilor for Transparency and Open Government, Elisa Valia Cotanda, accompanied by the Project Director of the Foundation for Justice, Claudia Squillacioti, where thanks were expressed to all the participants and it concluded by highlighting the imperative need to have transparent and quality access to data, in line with everything mentioned in the day.